Every Fall, Music Education hosts a guest who has distinguished themselves as a leader in the field.  This Fall, we had the pleasure of spending time with and learning from Dr. Brittan Braddock who is the Director of Bands and Coordinator of Music Education at Mercer University.  

In addition to her work at Mercer, she is the producer of the livestream projects for the Masterwork Concerts of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra and, similarly, she directs episodes of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Behind the Curtain digital concert series. She has been invited to present sessions about this work at major venues including state conferences and the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.  

During her two-day residency, she spoke to our classes, sharing her approaches for developing healthy habits in teaching and for providing experiences in Music Education that are based on a shared core philosophy.  

Then, in an extended session with all of the Music Education students, she described her work with the Pensacola and Atlanta Symphonies and had them try their hand at the process.  This interactive session was particularly impactful and included discussions of how the techniques and approaches could be used in the K-12 setting for a variety of things, including but not limited to concert preparation, concert promotion, and recruiting.  

Dr. Braddock’s presentations were engaging and inspiring and a great way to get everyone thinking about ways to use technology to support Music Education.  We are grateful to her for being with us and sharing new ideas and approaches.